"I'm going to come back to West Virginia when this is over. There's something ancient and deeply-rooted in my soul. I like to think that I have left my ghost up one of those hollows, and I'll never really be able to leave for good until I find it. And I don't want to look for it, because I might find it and have to leave".----Breece D'J Pancake, in a letter to his mother.

Clair Dunlap

Dreams (in the Salish Sea)

the city shrugs its shoulders, saysall i've got is this river says that shouldbe enough: the polarity ofthe big-mouthed mississippi,the squat lakes sleeping naked on its outskirtstoo small to even pretend with.

in bed, we keep the window unit on hightangle up our sticky legs and wish we were anywheregreener. i dream the turquoise water at deception pass,the owl-eyes of our headlights in february dark. i dreamyour face in the ferry’s grey wind for the first time, cormorantsducking behind you.

the city says quit, says you aren’t going back fora long time, the city fries me clean through with julyto make sure i hear.

when we are both turning over in our half-sleepsyou tell me about the garden we will havein the san juans: pink fingers of foxglove, madrona barkcurled like cinnamon, bees all fat and hungry in the lavender.the blue plates we will make ourselves,the steaming paella on the dinner table, ourmouths yellow as egg yolk with saffron.

the way we will get back and be goodwith mugs in our hands each morning, fresh strawberries between our teeth.

The host family I stayed with in Fès, Morocco, gave me a small bowl on my last night with them. I had been sick for the whole trip and, despite how much they encouraged me to eat, I could not keep up with all the desserts they pushed on me. The bowl fits in the palm of my hand and is painted with a simple yellow design. When my host sister handed it to me she said, laughing hysterically, "For your soup!"

Clair Dunlap grew up just outside Seattle, Washington, where she started writing poems at the age of six. She currently resides in the Midwest and spends her free time missing the ocean, making vegan cheese, and drinking tea. Her work can be found, or is upcoming, in Whale Road Review, Vagabond City, Persephone's Daughters, Up the Staircase Quarterly, the Harpoon Review and more. Her first collection of poetry is forthcoming.